Piston assembly having counterflow thwarting construction for use in an internal combustion engine

ABSTRACT

A one piece piston for use in an internal combustion engine provided with a plurality of compression rings and oil rings on its circumferential surface includes ring grooves having a hole communicating with an inside, of the piston, oil rings received in the ring grooves, respectively; and a keeping ring mounted between the oil rings and having on its internal surface a spring receiving groove whose inner diameter is larger than an outer diameter of a ring type spring, wherein a separation between an external surface of the ring groove and the internal surface of the keeping ring is maintained equal to that of the compression ring and a hole is formed to allow the ring groove to communicate with the inside of the piston.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10,084,142, entitled “Piston Assembly Having Counterflow ThwartingConstruction for Use in an Internal Combustion Engine.” filed Feb. 28,2002, which claims priority from Korean Patent Application 2001-67251,filed Oct. 30, 2001. The disclosures of these patent applications areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a piston in an internal combustionengine for use with an diesel engine, and more particularly, to a pistonassembly for use in an internal combustion engine, having a counter-flowthwarting construction therewith, whereby an unwanted combustion of anengine oil together with a fuel, which may occur when the engine oil isintroduced into a combustion chamber by an inner pressure beinginstantaneously generated in the piston moving down during its ordinaryreciprocating movements, can be prevented, resulting that an excessiveconsumption of the lubricant, smoke caused by incomplete combustion andreduction of power can be avoided.

(b) Description of the Related Art

In general, a piston in an internal combustion engine reciprocateswithin a cylinder, wherein a suction stroke, a compression stroke, anexplosion stroke and an exhaust stroke occur generating a power. Inorder to increase the power, various efforts such as an endeavor toremove the factors that would reduce the power have been attempted.

The power-reducing factors are, e.g., an incomplete combustion occurringwhen an engine oil is introduced into a combustion chamber to be burnttogether with the fuel, an inferiority of an injection nozzle tip, ashortage of the amount of the suction air and a poor air-tight propertyof the piston ring.

Studies have found that the incomplete combustion caused by the engineoil results in a mass of carbon or soot adhering to a crown of thepiston or an external surface of the piston, especially, that a reverseflow of the engine oil or air into the combustion chamber of thecylinder or an introduction of the fuel into an inside of the piston iscaused by an internal pressure generated within the chamber near a crankduring the reciprocating movement of the piston.

Hereunder, this phenomenon will be described in detail with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1a presents a suction stroke of a cylinder where a piston 20 movesdown from a top dead point to a bottom dead point and a suction valve V1is opened simultaneously, introducing air and fuel into a combustionchamber 10 a.

FIG. 1b represents a compression stroke of the cylinder where the pistonmoves up from the bottom dead point and the suction valve V1 is closedsimultaneously, thereby compressing the air and fuel in high temperatureand high pressure.

FIG. 1c represents an explosion stroke where the fuel compressed in thehigh temperature and pressure condition is exploded to be burnt when thepiston 20 reaches the top dead point; and FIG. 1d represents an exhauststroke where an exhaust valve V2 is opened and the piston moves up tothe top dead point, resulting that the combustion gas is exhausted outof the combustion chamber 10 a.

As shown in FIGS. 1a to 1 d, the piston reciprocating within thecylinder 10 has a plurality of ring grooves 22 a, 23, wherein acompression ring 22 and an oil ring 24 are mounted in the ring groove 22a.

Accordingly, during the reciprocating movements of the piston, thecompression ring 22 presses against the internal surface of the cylinderto generate a surface pressure therebetween, providing a pressingpressure in the combustion chamber 10 a. The oil ring 24 functions toscratch the engine oil off the cylinder.

In the suction stroke (shown in FIG. 1a) where the piston 20 moves downfrom a top dead point to a bottom dead point and a suction valve V1 isopened simultaneously, generating a vacuum state in the combustionchamber 10 a, a pressure within the piston 20 is sharply increased. Forthis reason, a reversed flow of air is introduced in a directionindicated with an arrow A in an oil passageway, thereby allowing oilsticking to or remaining on the oil ring 24 and the ring groove 23 to beintroduced into the combustion chamber along an internal surface of thecylinder liner.

The oil conversely flown into the combustion chamber sticks to theinternal wall of the cylinder liner in a large amount and is furtherintroduced into the combustion chamber in the compression stroke, in adirection indicated with an arrow B, during which the piston 20 movingup scratches up the oil sticking to the internal wall of the cylinderliner. The engine oil introduced into the combustion chamber having ahigher level of flash point would hinder the combustion in the explosionstroke (see FIG. 1c), causing the incomplete combustion and would emitsmoke in the exhaust stroke (see FIG. 1d).

In the operation of the four cycle engine, since the internal pressureof the piston becomes lower sharply during the exhaust stroke (see FIG.1d) where the exhaust valve V2 is opened and the piston moves up towardthe top dead point, the combustion gas in the combustion chamber 10 a isintroduced into the cylinder 20 and the inside of the piston 20 througha gap between the internal wall of the cylinder 10 and the externalsurface of the piston 20, a gap between the compression ring 22 and thecylinder liner, and the ring groove 23 and a hole 26, in a directionindicated with an arrow of D. This phenomenon also occurs during theexplosion stroke (see FIG. 1c), in which the air flows in a directionindicated with an arrow C. The cause of this problem mainly resides onthe oil ring and the space between the ring grooves through which theexhaust and the suction occur.

More detailed description of this will be made with reference to FIGS.2a and 2 b.

FIG. 2a shows the kinds of the oil rings which may be mounted around thepiston; and FIG. 2b represents a sectional view of a state of the oilring mounted on a one piece piston, while FIG. 2c being an enlargedsectional view of the oil ring shown in FIG. 2b.

As shown in FIG. 2a, the oil ring has through-holes 24 c formed througha center of the oil ring 24 and a pair of protrusions 24 a and 24 bprotruding along a circumferential direction on an external surface ofthe oil ring 24 and being separated from each other. The protrusionsserve to scratch the engine oil adhering to the internal wall of thecylinder liner during the reciprocating movements of the piston. Thelower protrusion 24 b firstly scratches down the oil adhering to theinternal wall of the cylinder liner, while the upper protrusion 24 afurther scratches down the oil remaining thereon, providing a dualperformance in scratching the oil.

As shown in FIG. 2b, the oil scratched down by the oil ring 24 isintroduced into the through-hole 24 c to flow into the inside 20 b ofthe piston via the hole 26 communicating with the inside 20 b of thepiston.

As shown in FIGS. 2a through 2 c, the oil ring 24 may have a ring-shapedspring 29 mounted therein. However, the ring-shaped spring 29 equippedin the oil ring makes a, space between the oil ring and the ring groove23. Accordingly, a certain amount of oil will be kept within the ringgroove 23.

That is, during the reciprocating movements of the piston as shown inFIGS. 1a through 1 d, especially, when the piston moves down from thetop dead point to the bottom dead point, the internal pressure isinstantaneously generated in the piston due to the inertia of the airwithin the piston and then the oil remaining in the ring groove and theoil sticking to the internal wall of the cylinder liner are drawn toflow conversely into the combustion chamber 10 a, going against the oilring 24 along the internal wall of the piston liner.

In this regard, developments for an oil ring capable of providing astrong air-tight condition between the oil ring 24 and the ring groove23, thereby reducing the communication between both sides of the oilring and efficiently removing the oil adhering to the internal wall ofthe cylinder liner has been requested. Particularly, in case of theone-piece piston, since it is made by using casting, being accompaniedby a lot of limitations, the development of the oil ring capable ofproviding the strong air-tight is needed strongly. That is, the oil-airkeeping ring insulating the air from the oil and being capable ofefficiently removing the oil is necessary.

Further, since a dividable piston made in such a manner that an upperportion of the piston is firstly made of a heat-resistant material andthen it is assembled with a piston body may be employed as a piston ofthe internal combustion engine, an oil ring fit for the dividable pistonor a piston having a reverse-flow thwarting construction has beenrequested.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a one piece pistonassembly for use in an internal combustion engine, having an oil ringfit for a one piece piston, an oil discharge construction and areverse-flow thwarting construction, in order to prevent a reverse flowof the oil.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a dividable pistonhaving an enhanced reverse flow thwarting construction in order toprevent a reverse flow of the oil or a reverse flow of fuel in thecombustion chamber or combustion gas into the engine oil.

To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides aone piece piston for use in an internal combustion engine provided witha plurality of compression rings and oil rings on its circumferentialsurface includes ring grooves having a hole communicating with an insideof the piston, oil rings received in the ring grooves, respectively; anda keeping ring mounted between the oil rings and having on its internalsurface a spring receiving groove whose inner diameter is larger than anouter diameter of a ring type spring, wherein a separation between anexternal surface of the ring groove and the internal surface of thekeeping ring is maintained equal to that of the compression ring and ahole is formed to allow the ring groove to communicate with the insideof the piston.

The keeping ring has a shape similar to a taper under cut typecompression ring, in which a spring receiving groove having a diameterlarger than the diameter of the ring type spring is formed on an innerperipheral surface, the ring type spring being received in the springreceiving groove.

The keeping ring is provided with on its upper and lower sides a pair ofprotrusions, respectively, and through holes separated from one anotherin a predetermined distance along a circumferential direction on anexternal surface of the keeping ring, the keeping ring having on itsinner peripheral surface a spring receiving groove in which said ringtype spring is received.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a dividablepiston for use in an internal combustion engine having a crown whoseupper side is made of heat resisting material, and a piston bodyprovided with a plurality of compression rings and oil rings on itscircumferential surface, the piston characterized in that: a hole isformed through a lower circumferential surface of the crown to allowinga ring groove into which said oil ring is inserted to communicate withan internal surface of the crown, wherein oil introduced into the ringgroove by the oil ring is drained along an oil passageway via the hole;and a semi-circular protrusion is symmetrically made by partiallycutting portions near a pin hole and an oil passageway communicatingwith the holes is formed through a body of the piston, the oilpassageway also communicating with a plurality of holes formed radiallyinwardly from the upper peripheral surface of the piston body and adrain hole positioned vertically.

The oil ring is provided with on its upper and lower sides a pair ofprotrusions, respectively, and through holes separated from one anotherin a predetermined distance along a circumferential direction on anexternal surface of the oil ring, the keeping ring having on its innerperipheral surface a spring receiving groove in which said ring typespring is received.

The oil ring is provided with a spring receiving groove having adiameter larger than the diameter of the ring type spring is formed onan inner peripheral surface, the ring type spring being received in thespring receiving groove.

A keeping ring may be mounted between the compression ring and the oilring of the crown.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention,and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles ofthe invention:

FIGS. 1a to 1 d show sectional views of a stroke of a piston in aconventional internal combustion engine;

FIG. 2a illustrates a sectional view showing kinds of the conventionalpistons as examples;

FIG. 2b depicts a sectional view showing an oil ring equipped in aone-piece piston;

FIG. 2c gives a partial sectional view of FIG. 2a, when taken along aline A—A;

FIG. 3a presents a sectional view of an inventive one-piece type pistonhaving a counter-flow thwarting construction therewith;

FIG. 3b represents a sectional view of an inventive dividable pistonhaving a counter-flow thwarting construction therewith;

FIG. 4a is an enlarged sectional view of principal parts of FIG. 3a;

FIG. 4b sets forth an enlarged sectional view of principal parts of FIG.3b; and

FIGS. 5a and 5b show sectional views of exemplary oil ring and keepingring employed in the inventive piston, respectively.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of a piston assembly for use in an internalcombustion engine having a reverse flow-thwarting construction inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention will hereinafterbe described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3a presents a sectional view of an inventive one-piece type pistonhaving a counter-flow thwarting construction therewith; and FIG. 3brepresents a sectional view of an inventive dividable piston having acounter-flow thwarting construction therewith. Here, the same componentsas those of the prior art will be represented with identical referentialnumerals.

A description of a one-piece piston for use in the internal combustionengine having the reverse flow-thwarting construction is made hereunder.

In FIG. 3a, the referential numeral 20 represents a piston, and thereferential numeral 20 a means a hole for a piston pin rotatablyconnecting the piston with a crank rod, while the referential numeral 20b indicating an inside of the piston.

As shown, the piston 20 has a compression ring 22 positioned around itsupper portion and a keeping ring 30 a kept below the compression ring22.

As shown in right-hand drawings of FIGS. 5a and 5 b, the keeping ring 30a appears similar to a taper under cut type compression ring, in which aspring receiving groove L1 having an inner peripheral surface onto whicha ring type spring 29 is inserted is provided.

As described above, the spring receiving groove L1 is a groove in whichthe ring type spring 29 is inserted to exert its tensioning force. Asshown in FIG. 2a, the spring receiving groove L1 appears such that aconventional scraper type compression ring has on its inner peripheralsurface a coil spring inserted thereon, as similar to the oil ring 24.However, its depth is at least equal to or greater than a diameter S1 ofthe spring 29. This is because it is required that the keeping ring 30 ahave an enlarged contact surface, when being assembled into the ringgroove 23. When the ring type spring 29 exerts a higher tensioning forcein a circumferential direction of the keeping ring 30 a, the latter isresiliently kept on an external surface of the cylinder liner in acloser contact thereto.

One of the keeping rings 30 a and 30 b shown in FIG. 5a may be properlyemployed to fit with a particular application.

In the inventive one-piece piston, since the ring type coil spring 29 isreceived in the inner peripheral surface of the keeping ring 30 a, i.e.,into the spring receiving groove L1, the contact surface between thekeeping ring 30 a and the ring groove 23 into which the keeping ring 30a is inserted becomes larger. That is, since the contact surface becomeslarge, the influence by the internal pressure generated within acombustion chamber or the piston 20 during the reciprocating movementsof the piston can be shut-off in a great level.

The internal pressure in the inside 20 b of the piston occurring whenthe movement of the piston is converted has its largest value in aregion indicated with “a”, as shown in FIG. 3a. However, it is difficultfor the internal pressure in the inside 20 b of the piston to be exertedbeyond a region defined by the keeping ring 30 a, which may be exertedvia the holes 26 a and 26 b, since the contact surface between the ringgroove 23 and the keeping ring 30 a and a more closer contact betweenthe surface of the cylinder liner and the keeping ring 30 a caused bythe tensioning force by the coil spring.

In this configuration, the lower oil ring 24 and the upper keeping ring30 a moves down in the close contact relationship with the internal wallof the cylinder liner, scratching the oil adhering to the internal wall,during the reciprocating movement of the piston. The oil collected bythe both rings promptly flows down into the inside 20 b of the pistonvia the holes 26 a and 26 b.

The configuration and the operation of the inventive dividable pistonhaving the reverse flow thwarting construction will be explained.

As shown in FIGS. 3b and 4 b, the compression ring 22 is provided on acircumferential surface of a crown 21 and a keeping ring 30 b isreceived in the ring groove 23. A hole 26 c is formed through tocommunicate with an internal surface of the crown 21.

An oil passageway 27 taking up a predetermined space within the insideof the crown 21 and communicating with the holes 26 c is formed througha body of the piston being assembled with the crown 21, being superposedthereon. The oil passageway 27 is positioned circumferentially of thebody of the piston being assembled with the crown 21, being superposedthereon.

The oil passageway 27 also communicates with a plurality of holes 26 dformed radially inwardly from the upper peripheral surface of the bodyof the piston 20 and communicates with a drain hole 28 in a verticalposition.

The oil passageway 27 is circumferentially formed on the upper portionof the body of the piston. Particularly, the oil passageway 27 is formedin a protrusion 21 b of a semi-circular shape which is formed bypartially cutting a circumferential portion of the piston at apredetermined height from a lower skirt of the body of the piston 20,wherein the oil passageway 27 communicates with a bottom of theprotrusion 21 b of the semi-circular shape via the drain hole 28.

The oil passageway 27 serves to prevent the direct exertion of theinternal pressure in the inside 20 b of the piston through its space andto cushion a pressure in a space below the semi-circular protrusion 21 bwhich has its relatively lower value, thereby reducing the reverse flowof the oil.

In the conventional piston as shown in FIGS. 1a to 1 d, the internalpressure generating in the inside 20 b of the piston is exerted via theoil hole 26 of the oil ring groove communicating with the upper portionof the inside of the piston, between the oil ring 24 and its ring groove23, allowing the oil to contrarily flow into the combustion chamber 10a. However, as shown in FIG. 3b, in the present invention, the oilpassageway 27 and the holes 26 c and 26 d prevent the direct exertion ofthe internal pressure within the inside 20 b of the piston. Further, theoil collected by the scratching is drained to the drain hole 28 via thehole 26 c and the oil passageway 27 formed between the crown and thepiston body, thereby preventing the internal pressure in the piston fromexerting through the hole of the oil ring groove.

Further, in order to obtain a more powerful control of the reverse flowof the oil, the oil ring may be changed to a configuration of thekeeping ring 30 b, thereby having an enlarged contact surface area withthe ring groove 23.

In other words, since both principal surfaces of the keeping ring 30 bare contacted to the ring groove 23 over a large area, the keeping ring30 b can efficiently prevent the exertion of the internal pressure inthe piston.

Furthermore, the oil scratched down by the lower protrusion 24 of thekeeping ring 30 b flows into the oil passageway 27 along the inclinedhole 26 d, whereas the oil collected by the upper protrusion 24 a isintroduced into the oil passageway 27 via the hole 26 c.

Accordingly, the engine oil introduced into the oil passageway 27 flowsdownwardly of the semi-circular protrusion 21 b via the drain hole 28.

In the piston assembly, especially, the one piece piston, in theinternal combustion engine having the reverse flow thwartingconstruction in accordance with the present invention, the keeping ring30 is mounted between the oil ring 24 and the compression ring 22 andhas the large contact surface area with the ring groove 23 and a highlyclose contact relationship with the cylinder liner due to a great levelof the tensioning force, thereby preventing the reverse flow of the oilinto the combustion chamber due to the internal pressure within thepiston during the reciprocating movements of the piston and preventingthe direct exertion of the compression pressure and the explosionpressure during the compression stroke and the explosion stroke onto theinside of the piston.

Moreover, in case of the dividable piston, the oil passageway 27 and theholes 26 c and 26 d can prevent the direct exertion of the internalpressure generated in the piston by its space and cushion the exertionof the internal pressure in the space below the semi-circular protrusion21 b having the relatively lower value toward the combustion chamber.Here, the keeping ring 30 b has a large contact surface area with thering groove 23, thereby preventing the internal pressure from exertingvia a gap between the keeping ring 30 b and the ring groove 23. Thescratched oil is drained via the holes 26 c and 26 d to the drain hole28.

Accordingly, the engine oil or the air is not introduced into the insideof the cylinder of the internal combustion engine and the fuel is notintroduced into the inside of the piston, thereby reducing theover-consumption of the lubricant and the emission of the smoke causedby the incomplete combustion and increasing the life-time of the engine.

While this invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment,it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to thedisclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to covervarious modifications and equivalent arrangements included within thespirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A dividable piston for use in an internalcombustion engine including a crown having an upper side formed of aheat resistant material and a piston body having a plurality ofcompression rings and a plurality of oil rings on a circumferentialsurface, the piston comprising: a hole formed through a lowercircumferential surface of the crown to allow a ring groove, the oilring being inserted into the ring groove to communicate with an internalsurface of the crown, wherein oil introduced into the ring groove by theoil ring is drained along an oil passageway via the hole; a symmetricalsemi-circular protrusion of the piston body formed by partially cuttingportions near a pin hole; and an oil passageway formed through a body ofthe piston, the oil passageway communicating with the hole, the oilpassageway also communicating with a plurality of holes formed radiallyinwardly from an upper peripheral surface of the piston body and a drainhole positioned vertically.
 2. The dividable piston of claim 1, whereinthe oil ring includes a pair of protrusions disposed on an upper sideand a lower side and a plurality of through-holes, each through-holebeing separated from one another through-hole by a predetermineddistance along a circumferential direction on an external surface of theoil ring, the piston further comprising a keeping ring, the keeping ringhaving a spring receiving groove in on an inner peripheral surface, thespring receiving groove receiving a ring type spring.
 3. The dividablepiston of claim 1, wherein the oil ring includes a spring receivinggroove, the spring receiving groove having a diameter larger than adiameter of a ring type spring, the ring type spring being formed on aninner peripheral surface, the ring type spring being received in aspring receiving groove.
 4. The dividable piston of claim 1, wherein akeeping ring is mounted between the compression ring and the oil ring ofthe crown.